


And They Are Beautiful

by Toothpaste_Fresh



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Or in some cases just taking a moment to appreciate the stars which still counts, Spoilers for episode 28 of Amnesty, Stargazing, There are characters other than those listed but they are only mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-10 23:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20536718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toothpaste_Fresh/pseuds/Toothpaste_Fresh
Summary: They all find something when they look at the stars.Some sweetness and some sadness, all stemming from the night sky.





	And They Are Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm late, but holy heck TAZ killed off a main character that was not supposed to happen.
> 
> Topping that off I utterly adore anything to do with stars so I wrote this to deal.
> 
> Hopefully some of you may like this as well. _Enjoy_

The stars are beautiful above Kepler, West Virginia.

Duck Newton has known this for as long as he can remember. He’s seen the tourism pamphlets his hometown hawks with pride. “Breathtaking views of the night sky!” they would claim, “See the galaxy as it was meant to be seen!”, and so on and so on. It gets old and naturally he assumes it’s just another exaggerated truth to snag tourists, not that much do come anyway.

Then one day he goes out in the woods, he’s done this many times before, but never this late (and he’s been out here pretty late), and _never _alone. That’s his job now, he’s a forest ranger, and duty has called him out into the dark. His flashlight doesn’t illuminate much, he sees flashes of pine and long grasses and shrub and dust as he makes his way along the gnarled path he’s trying to follow. He’s been through this way before, he knows the plant and animal life here like the back of his hand, he’s trying to reassure himself that he’s done this a million times, that’s there’s nothing different, that it’s just utterly, horribly dark now.

The flashlight goes out.

Which is not a very good thing to happen, and he’s starting to freak out. He stumbles forward, tripping over a root and crashing to the ground. He flails his arms, and (_fuck, ow__) _hishandslaps a rough tree branch, grasping it in the process. Breathing heavily, he hovers there for a second, then slowly collapses to the ground.

He pushes himself back against the trunk. He breathes.

He pulls his hand into his chest, and it stings. He touches it (_ow_), and flinches back. It's raw. It must be scraped pretty badly. 

“Alright Duck,” he says to himself, “just gotta relax, deep breaths.”

So he focuses on the calm things, on the sound of wind passing through the trees, on the feeling of leaves tickling his cheek and grass beneath his fingers, on the incessantly loud crickets, on the hoots and other strange noises that all the nightlife here make.

And then he looks up.

His eyes are still adjusting to the dark, but the stars are the brightest things about. They are cool, still, undisturbed by the happenings below. They are set in a swath of darkness, hues of deep blue that gradually intertwine and bleed into each other. And he watches for a little while, eyes in soft focus as the sky seemingly shifts while standing still. The stars dim and brighten, the blue twists and swirls but everything stays in its place. And then after a while he looks around him, at the dark trees that aren’t as dark anymore, and at his hand that doesn’t hurt so much unless he _(ow, yep)_ moves it too much. His eyes have adjusted and he can see where his medical kit is and fishes out some gauze for now. He still hears the cracking and shuffling of animals nearby, he still hears the howls of distant predators, he reminds himself that this is simply part of these woods, and feels a bit embarrassed (he’s lived here all his life, he _knows_ these woods! So for his bravado’s sake he’s less on edge).

The flashlight is on the ground nearby. He picks it up and gives it a good whack. It turns back on. Now that his eyes have adjusted to the dark, the light from it is nearly blinding. But Duck is no longer afraid. He has known these woods his whole life, he doesn’t need to fear them now.

Duck looks back at the stars many more times in outings such as these, and learns to admire their beauty. Duck looks at the stars, and learns to feel safe beneath them. Duck Newton looks at the stars, and under them he finds a home.

The stars are breathtaking above Kepler, West Virginia.

Aubrey Little, having never lived here until now, did not know this. She’s never had much reason to admire them before. Growing up, she lived in the city, where light pollution blocked out a lot of the night sky. Of course, like most people she still had a passing appreciation for them. Her mother loved the stars, keeping up to date with all sorts of various astronomical events and happenings, so Aubrey remembers evenings spent outside on the grass and in the cold looking for shooting stars (though with sparse luck, the bulk of meteor showers often occurred far too late at night, past her bedtime) or trying to judge if some “supermoon” really was so much bigger now than it was any other day. She used them in her magic too, with white paper cut-out stars taped to her cape or thrown like confetti. She hasn't looked at them recently really, not since leaving home, not without a twinge of guilt. She doesn't use them in her magic act anymore.

But when she comes to Amnesty Lodge, she finds a new meaning in them. The stars are so much clearer out here, and some nights she glances up and marvels at the difference between this and the view back home. It brings tears to her eyes to see them like this. They are gorgeous.

One night, she’s out on the property with Dani, wrapped up in blankets and fold out chairs, a steaming cup of cocoa held close, they talk for hours, about their innermost secrets and deepest fears, and then nothing about at all. Aubrey notices how much colder it’s gotten now, now that she’s outside and deep into the night. The wind calmly rustles through the grass, sending a shiver down her spine. She lets go of her now empty mug and pulls the blankets tighter. She looks back to Dani, who has relaxed back into her chair, her expression vacant and staring at the sky above her. She smiles and sighs.

“They sure are beautiful, aren’t they?”

“Huh?”

Dani gestures vaguely to the sky.

"Oh the stars you mean, yeah they're pretty neat.”

“Sylvain doesn’t have anything like them.” She sags a bit at that, then goes quiet.

The wind whistles along.

Dani speaks up, softly, “You know I miss home Aubrey. I miss my old friends, I miss my family. And yes it’s lovely here and it’s lovely with _you_ but... it really does ache sometimes.”

Aubrey shuffles herself a bit closer, trying to be comforting.

“It’s alright to feel that way, y’know?" Aubrey says, "And I know I haven’t been through what you’ve been through, but I think I get where you’re coming from. And it absolutely sucks sometimes. All we can do now is focus on the things we have. Like Barclay and Jake Coolice and Mama, and fluffy pancakes on sunny mornings, and evenings like tonight with the stars. And Dr Harris Bonkers! (PhD) How could we ever forget him!.”

Dani laughs, then shuffles herself closer and points upward, “Mama taught me names for a few of these, that one up there's the Big Dipper. And if you look a little ways over…” she moves her hand slightly, before stopping, “there! That’s Polaris, apparently the entire sky circles around that one. Pretty crazy huh?”

Aubrey nods, “Yep, it’s pretty crazy”, looking out to where she is pointing, but she sneaks a glance back at Dani’s expression, as she enthusiastically explains. It makes her happy to watch.

A few days later, Aubrey heads to the nearest shop and brings back the biggest book on stars that she can find (thanks to the subject's popularity with tourists, and the fact that Carla the bookstore owner is a proud member of the Kepler Residents' Stargazing Society, there is a decent selection available).

Aubrey spends many more nights out on the lawn with Dani, pouring through the book and trying to spot the various mentioned constellations. They regale Jake Coolice and Barclay with their latest findings whenever they head back in, or anyone else who happens to be up and around. Sometimes Mama pops out to say hi, and leaves them with an extra blanket so they aren’t too cold.

So when Aubrey looks at the stars, she finds herself reminded of how much she’s grown to care, not just for Dani, but for the entire town. She looks at the stars and learns to love something new. Aubrey Little looks at the stars, and under them she finds a family.

The stars are dazzling above Kepler, West Virginia.

Ned Chicaine of course, has never really cared about this fact. Ned has looked up at the night sky many a time before. He can appreciate the fact that the sun is not there, but only because that means he can sneak about without being seen. He has spent nights awake in brush and wandering down dusty roads. His eyes are always peeled for danger, and they can’t spare an upward glance. He never stops looking around him, looking behind him. He has a past that keeps trying to catch him, so he’s always running. He can never stay in one place for long.

Once he finally settles in Kepler, he sometimes catches himself unconsciously looking over his shoulder. It is force of habit, he supposes, he is still afraid of what might catch up to him. He hides it well.

Tourism is profitable though, so Ned looks up when others are watching, he capitalizes on peoples’ fascination with the stars. He tells tales of alien spacecraft and strange lights in the sky. He tried to join the Kepler Residents’ Stargazing Society once, and was promptly kicked out after trying to hand out some rather conspiratorial cryptonomica pamphlets. He makes a name for himself down in Kepler, even if it’s as a tourist-pandering swindler. He’s alright with that. It’s better than being known as a criminal.

But then the truth comes out.

Boyd Mauche is back, the town is angry, and Aubrey finds her necklace. All of the guilt Ned has hidden comes to the foreground. He can’t change the past, however much he’d like to. He starts packing up to leave it all again, because he is, as always, a coward. It seems he can’t change himself either.

But he doesn’t leave this time.

He can’t just let the town fall apart because of him. He wants to make things right. So he goes to the gate instead. He stands up on his truck and tries to clear an angry mob, because he can’t let them hurt the innocent people of Sylvain on his watch, because he can’t let these townsfolk get hurt either. So when Dani approaches, low and growling and feral, he moves to stop her. He’ll be damned if he lets another person get hurt because of his whole mess.

A shot rings out in the chaos.

When Ned finds himself lying on the ground he isn’t feeling guilty anymore. Maybe, if he were in the right mind, he’d feel bad for this. He’d feel bad for Mama, who’s frantically yelling something at him; for Pigeon, who is gripping her face in the awful realization of what’s just happened; for Aubrey, who won’t have a chance to reconcile with him now; for his dear friends Duck and for Kirby, and for all the other people that he is leaving behind.

Ned doesn’t feel bad right now, he doesn’t feel anything right now. He can’t hear anything except the wind. His eyes are out of focus, transfixed up and far away.

That’s when Ned finally sees the stars.

They are quiet, and they don’t mean much on their own, but there are just so _so_ many, and that immenseness is what makes them great. They don’t twinkle or sparkle, they don’t shimmer or wink; they are cold and still and far away. They are beautiful.

The world keeps rushing around him, people are shouting and running and fleeing and fuzzy, he can’t focus on them. He can focus on the sky, although now it’s blurring into deep purples and blues.

In his life, Ned Chicaine looks at the stars just once, and in them he finds peace.


End file.
